Henderson (left) dominated Babalu Sobral (right) in their 2010 rematch in Strikeforce.

By Joshua Molina

Jon “Bones” Jones needs to fight Dan Henderson. The two were on a collision course, but the MMA gods had other plans.

There aren’t a lot of fighters who on paper can beat Jones, and Henderson definitely isn’t one of the select few.

But since nobody is going to outwrestle Jones, maybe the key to defeating him lies in Henderson’s fists.

Jones was supposed to fight Henderson at UFC 151, but it never happened because Henderson hurt his knee. Instead, we had the privilege of seeing Jones fight two guys who never should have been in the cage with him in the first place — Vitor Belfort and Chael Sonnen.

Henderson was fed to Lyoto Machida and lost a close “I don’t want to get knocked out” decision.

With all the talent in the light-heavyweight division, it’s kinda ridiculous that Jones has had some easy recent fights.

And it makes no sense for a 43-year-old legend like Dan Henderson to have to fight Rashad Evans to earn a shot at Jones. Henderson already earned a shot at Jones and should get one.

Alexander Gustafsson is next in line to fight Jones — even though he had to back out of his last fight against the great Gegard Mousasi.

Even though a last-minute cut kept him out of a fight against a top star in Mousasi, Gustafsson has jumped to a title shot.

That’s not fair.

Henderson deserves the shot before Jones battles Anderson Silva.

Henderson just might be the guy who has Jones number — in the form of a right hand. A loss to Evans, though, could spell the end for Temeculan warrior.